Seyo Cecunjanin returns to Portobello Restaurant on Park Road on Thursday, July 2, 2026. Credit: Contributed photo / We-Ha.com
WEST HARTFORD, CT — Sead (Seyo) Cecunjanin, the West Hartford resident and business owner who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week was released Thursday and returned to West Hartford.
A member of West Hartford’s Democratic Town Committee was dining at one of Cecunjanin’s two local businesses – Portobello Restaurant at 132 Park Road – when Cecunjanin returned, and shared the photo above.
Cecunjanin, a native of Montenegro, settled in Connecticut after fleeing to the United States in 1997 while Montenegro was still part of Yugoslavia, amid the political turmoil and “Slobodan Milošević’s genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing,” according to officials.
A July 1 letter to ICE provided to We-Ha.com from U.S. Reps John Larson, Jim Himes, and Rosa DeLauro, as well as U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, called for Cecunjanin’s release while his immigration case is pending.
The letter said Cecunjanin is in the U.S. legally with an I-130 that was approved in 2019. He also filed an I-485 “adjustment of status” to work toward becoming a lawful permanent resident in September 2023, and was last interviewed in October 2025.
“Mr. Cecunjanin received a valid employment authorization document (EAD), two months ago, and he has an I-512 Advance Parole, which has allowed him to travel outside the U.S. to visit his dying father and return while his adjustment of status remains pending,” lawmakers said in their letter to ICE officials. “By all accounts Mr. Cecunjanin is doing everything that our complicated immigration system is asking of him and raising three upstanding young men on his own while running small businesses and employing members of the community.”
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Seyo Cecunjanin, who has lived in West Hartford since 1997 and is the owner of both Portobello Restaurant and The Laundry Room, was taken into custody in the parking lot a Dunkin Donuts on Park Road on June 20.
Drivers who were diverted due to the protest were generally supportive, with several honking their horns in support of the crowd’s anti-ICE message.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche called the law anti-law enforcement and said it was designed to create risk for the department’s agents.
The bill is rooted in the concept that no one is above the law, said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. “Here in the Constitution State, the Constitution applies to everyone,” she said.
Debate on the bill began Thursday, but the lengthy deliberations, including 10 failed Republican amendments, meant the vote did not happen until Friday afternoon.
“This is our neighbor,” one activist said to the ICE agents. “They belong here. This is Connecticut. Get out.”
The student, identified only as Rihan due to concerns about his family’s safety, was being driven to school by his uncle on April 6 when immigration officials boxed their car in. The 19-year-old ultimately ended up at a detention center in Plymouth, Mass. housed in a room with four other men.